Feeding-tube diet: 'Quick fix' or legit weight-loss move?

Lanell Fagan was never someone who could be called fat, but the 46-year-old Singer Island woman wanted to lose about 20 pounds. She said the excess weight was causing health problems.

"After so many failed attempts at dieting and going away to different centers -- 'sprinkle this, eat at this time,' -- I couldn't do it."

That's when a friend told Fagan about a Miami doctor named Oliver DiPietro, who told Fagan he could help her quickly lose the weight with something called the K-E diet. It stands for ketogenic nutrition, and it's simple. It lasts 10 days and for that time, you don't eat. You get everything through a feeding tube.

"You feel nothing," Fagan said. "Honestly."

The feeding tube is hooked up to a bag which supplies a constant drip of protein and fat. It's 800 calories per day with zero carbohydrates.

"Your hunger and appetite go away completely so patients are absolutely not hungry at all for the whole 10 days," DiPietro said.

Fagan said that's the truth.

"On the third day, I woke as if nothing had happened, no tube, no nothing," she said. "And I felt so sharp, so on. My energy was through the roof."

Fagan lost 14 pounds in the 10 days and said she's never felt better. But not everybody is enamored with the K-E diet.

"It's extreme," said Gail Starr, an eating disorder expert. "It's a quick fix. Sometimes that tube can go into the lung. Sometimes you can get throat irritation. Sometimes you can get sinus infections."

Other doctors said the diet itself can cause stress on your liver, your kidneys and your skeleton. Fagan said she researched the diet thoroughly before doing it. She talked with other doctors and other patients, and is convinced she made the right choice.

"This was my savior," she said. "It's been an amazing journey."

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